In connection with woven and knitted articles, it is often necessary to bind the free edges of the article to prevent unraveling thereof. This is particularly important in connection with knitted articles in which one or more yarns are loosely knitted together and can become easily unraveled unless the edges thereof are bound in some manner. For example, knitted gloves typically include a cuff which is knitted integrally with the hand portion of the glove. The upper edge of the cuff must be bound in a manner which prevents unraveling of the glove.
One prior approach to binding the cuff edge involves sewing the cuff edge in a second machine operation following the first machine operation of knitting the glove. This approach to the problem, while quite effective, is expensive in terms of labor and the additional equipment needed to perform the sewing operation.
Another approach to binding the cuff edge involves the use of heat activatable thermoplastic yarns in the cuff edge which can be melted by the application thereto of heat, thereby binding the cuff edge. The cuff edge used in this construction consists of a single end of yarn having an outer covering of thermoplastic material. The single yarn end is knitted together to form the edge. Upon application of heat to the thermoplastic yarn, bonds are formed at the crossover points of the yarn. It has been found, however, that when the edge is subjected to stress, as when the wearer inserts a hand through the cuff thereby enlarging the cuff, the yarn bonds, thus allowing the yarn to eventually unravel. As a consequence, prior art edge bindings employing heat activatable, thermoplastic yarns were largely unsatisfactory. Furthermore, it was necessary to employ specially dedicated machines for melting the knitted, thermoplastic yarn after the article had been knitted.
The present invention is intended to overcome each of the shortcomings of the prior art mentioned above.